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Summerland

By Hannu RajaniemiRead by Antonia Beamish

£P.O.R.

An awe-inspiring account of the afterlife and what happens when it spills over into the world of the living. The new novel from the most exciting new voice in the genre since Neal Stephenson.

An awe-inspiring account of the afterlife and what happens when it spills over into the world of the living. The new novel from the most exciting new voice in the genre since Neal Stephenson.Loss is a thing of the past. Murder is obsolete. Death is just the beginning. In 1938, death is no longer feared but exploited. Since the discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, a metropolis for the recently deceased.

Yet Britain isn't the only contender for power in this life and the next. The Soviets have spies in Summerland, and the technology to build their own god.

When SIS agent Rachel White gets a lead on one of the Soviet moles, blowing the whistle puts her hard-earned career at risk. The spy has friends in high places, and she will have to go rogue to bring him in.

But how do you catch a man who's already dead?

Read by Antonia Beamish

(p) Orion Publishing Group 2018

Biographical Notes

Hannu Rajaniemi is from Finland and now lives in California. He has a PhD in String Theory and now works as a co-founder of a synthetic biology startup. Hannu was the most successful debut SF novelist of recent years. His fiction has been published to great acclaim in many countries.

Other details

ISBN:
9781409180456

Publication date:
28 Jun 2018

Page count:

Imprint:
Gollancz

He's switched subgenres while retaining his trademark conceptual high jinks and impressive world-building... an impressive plot reminiscent of John le Carré. — GUARDIAN

Eerily plausible, beautifully pitched on the cusp between wonder and horror, and thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last — Alastair Reynolds

Summerland: As if Alfred Hitchcock had made a movie with HP Lovecraft . . . A vision so original it deserves its own subgenre. And all worked out with the diamond-hard logic of a great SF writer. After Summerland, the thriller has a new geometry — Stephen Baxter

An excellent slice of genre-bending fiction that thrills and intrigues in equal measure. — SCIFINOW

I burned through it in two days. Great book: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spook. [on SUMMERLAND] — Ian McDonald

An intricate and vivid world of technological and spiritual wonder. — KIRKUS

A jaw-dropping, knowing, hyperintelligent yarn — Locus Magazine

With boundless imagination, Rajaniemi invents a mortal realm with a steampunk flair... Sci-fi and fantasy readers longing to immerse themselves in a fascinating new world will love exploring Summerland. — SHELF AWARENESS

A tense and twisting tale full of delightful allusions and ingenious — Ken MacLeod

Clever, subtle and... has a rich emotional centre. — SFX MAGAZINE

Summerland is in its own way as persuasive as example of Rajaniemi's disciplined inventiveness as his better-known hard SF. — LOCUS

A solid and enjoyable book and does much to demonstrate Hannu Rajaniemi's versatility and potential. — SF CROWSNEST

It reads like John Le Carré if Le Carré ate a ton of acid before writing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — NPR

This is not a run of the mill tale of rogue agents, secrets and danger but instead uses this narrative framework as a guide to explore the deeper secrets of the human heart and the power of our own mortality — TheBookBag

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